OK KO: Let's See The World Burn
by Vampire Tails
Summary: There has been another reason for a stakeout at the site of the glorb tree. Kaio was tasked with this important mission, and Pawn was sent with him. However, what if the reason was not Shadowy Figure?
1. Innocence Lost

**A/N: **Alright, so here's another roleplay converted into a story! I hope you enjoy it! and I must warn you.. it's Tragedy for a reason... also, you'll have to sign in to review now. I disabled the ability for anon reviews due to a troll. It's just until they go away.  
So, yeah, enjoy!

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**OK KO: Let's See The World Burn  
****Chapter One: Innocence Lost**

Mr. Gar had given Kaio a stakeout objective to see who keeps infiltrating the glorb tree; the only clue they had was smoke and ashes, like there was a fire each night. Of course, as to not send him alone, Pawn went with him. At this rate she might be considered a Bodega intern.

"Stakeout! never been on one of these before!" she rubbed her hands together as she stared at the location.

Kaio smiled at her, brightly, "Yeah, it's kinda fun. But we shouldn't veer from the task at hand." He was whispering, staring at the pipe.

Soon enough, what Mr. Gar described was felt - a strong scent of a fire.

Pawn narrowed her eye. "...I know that smell anywhere. Here we go."

Kaio began to get worried, biting his lip as he looked at Pawn, "You sure? that's fire.. I don't want you to get hurt.."

"I'll be okay," she grinned, giving him a thumbs up. The boy still wasn't sure, but he nodded, and headed towards the pipe. He had no idea why he was so close to tears. Everything would be fine. Right?

"Come on, let's… _ice_ this guy!" the Boardian grinned, dashing in front of Kaio down the pipe. The scent left as they felt a cloud of smoke rush through them. It would seem they were waiting for a reaction.

"...the hel-heck was that?"

"Pawnie, don't rush ahead of-" the boy shuddered at the smoke billowing around them. "Wh..what..?"

It didn't linger; instead, it went across the sewer, and snuck through the closed door to the glorb temple.

"After it!" the wooden lady rushed onwards, barging against the door with her shoulder, hopefully making it through. Kaio shot after her, worried beyond worried. Why did she like putting herself at risk? the door was blown off its hinges (_again_). And they could see the cloud, floating above the tree.

"_So I was right. Even being really cautious, heroes would come snooping around." _ The cloud started condensing, taking a solid humanoid form, starting from the feet and moving upwards. _"It does not matter. I accepted this hustle prepared. I hope, for your sake, that you're as prepared to fight as I am." _The smoke cleared, as their perpetrator stood there - a goat, possibly a mutant, wearing a military-themed villain costume, sleeves tucked into his gloves and boots. _"Although, taking a glance, Gar seems to be underestimating me. I'll just burn this evidence, and report back to my employer."_

"Alright, buddy," Pawn drew her gun, "we could do this the easy way or the I-shoot-you way," and then pointed it towards the villain. "Come quietly."

"_Did you seriously bring a gun," _he stretched out his palm, summoning a red hot chain, _"to a super fight?"_

"Are you really out here believing anyone carries regular guns anymore?" she opened the chamber, and a short burst of wispy, white magic swooped from her eye and into it, which started clearly glowing with condensed magic.

"_Fascinating. I hope, for your sake, that's not your only trick." _He wrapped the chain around his fist, taunting Pawn to draw closer. Pawn didn't draw closer, only drew, as she let loose a shot that sounded like thunder. Next he looked, a large sharp bolt of magic was heading towards him, and quick.

Dodging wasn't his forte, so it hit him square in the chest, making him drop from the tree. "Want another one of those? keep resisting. I got a few more tricks up my sleeve." Pawn grinned, loading the chamber full with lesser bullets this time.

Kaio hopped up and down, cheering Pawn for that. He grinned, "Nice one, Pawnee!" and then he was thinking again. Who was this person? why was he here?

The goat merely chuckled, as he got up, and walked back into their field of vision as if nothing happened. _"Props to you, that hurt. However, this only proves that the dog's bark seldom bites."_

"Did you seriously just use the word seldom in everyday conversation?"

"_I don't see anything wrong with that." _As the fella got en garde again, Kaio could catch a glimpse of the shot wound - it was closing by itself. The kid gasped quietly. Pawn simply grinned, and, still holding her gun in her left hand, loosed something new from her belt. It looked like… just a wooden stick, maybe a handle if you tried hard enough.

"_Go ahead. I want to see just what you have to offer."_

Pawn clicked a button on the handle, causing a long, durable rope of whitish crystal similar to quartz to extend from it, ending in a sort of tassel that was also made of crystal. It was a whip. She spun the whip around herself and sent it forward, the tassel ready and willing to lash out and slash the villain's flesh. It passed right through, but not because of its sharpness; his body separated as it tried to contact him, leaving the whip hitting smoke instead.

"Oh come on!" with a flick of her wrist the whip sprang back to her, cracking in the air as the rope twirled around her body. "That ain't fair!"

"_If I had come here for a duel, I would've called first. If you don't mind, I'll take my turn now," _he uncoiled the chain, swinging it at Pawn. Pawn leapt back several times, but she wasn't sure if that would save her. Then, suddenly, the chain curved on its own midswing, and scratched Pawn's shoulder. And being that it was red hot, it was obvious that she caught on fire.

Pawn immediately dropped what she had, panting and sweating intensely. "Sh-shoot, shoot, holy shoot!"

Kaio was shaken out of trying to find an opening, and gasped, eyes wide. "PAWNEE!" Oh no, this was exactly what he feared. And he had just stood there, just.. Watching. He clutched at his head, kicking himself, before he headed over to Pawn and picked her up, heading down into the water and setting her down in it, hoping it would douse the flames. The Boardian tilted her head away from her shoulder and didn't touch it, to minimize the areas that caught; the water only shrank the flames, but they still crawled along her body at the same rate.

"_Ahh, I didn't see that coming. Seems that I could've killed you the moment you entered. Eh, it doesn't matter now." _The chain poofed into smoke.

The boy growled at the villain's harsh words, and whipped around, shooting a vicious power fist at the guy, who merely split his body in half to avoid the attack, and separated, the two parts floating around the tree gathering glorbs.

"C-Cobdarn it, kid, don't focus on that cr-fuuuhhhh that creep!" she grit her teeth, the burn growing to her torso, her right arm already ashes.

Kaio looked back at her, and gasped, tears springing to his eyes. "Wh..what? The water should be working! why isn't it working?!" the boy was hopping again, this time in distress.

"I-I'm done for, kiddo…" she coughed, ash spreading from her mouth as she did. "Better get my last words out now while I still have a face to speak with…"

"N..no.. you can't die on me, Pawnee.. Please.." the tears were falling at this point, and he knelt beside her, splashing the water over her frantically.

"K-Kid, stop splashin' that stuff and listen to me," she used her remaining arm to pat his head softly. Despite what he wanted, he stopped and stared at her, though the tears were blurring his vision slightly. "You're…" she paused to cough again. "You've got a bright future, kid." She smiled blankly. "You're gonna be a great hero one day. I know it, I know it." She coughed once again, the flames turning her left arm to ash now. "You… you gave my life purpose. I can't thank you enough for that." Her smile grew more toothy, smoke rising from the gaps between her wooden teeth.

Kaio sniffled, "B..but you were supposed to be with me.. we were going to be friends, _best _friends.. forever.." He then tearfully hugged her at this point, ignoring the fire. "I.. I love you like a friend…"

"Come on, kid…" she coughed again, nearing the last of her strength. "Cheer up, hm? this is just… how things go." She gave him one last smile, before turning her head to the ceiling. "I'm gonna be a star, kiddo. And I'll burn brighter than all the rest." And with that, her head was caught up to by the flames. She remained a lifeless pile of black sand, crumbling between Kaio's fingers.

But Kaio did not cheer up. How could he? he whimpered, clutching at the ashes. He sobbed rather loudly, planting his face in it, not caring that he was getting dusty or that his clothes were becoming stained. "No no no… Pawnee… please.."

No matter how many times he opened his eyes, the sight still remained. She was still gone. It wasn't a nightmare like the remote. It was real.

"_All of this could've been avoided if you didn't poke around in someone else's business." _Shou had reformed, hoisting a bag of glorbs over his shoulder, and heading for the door. _"That's the problem with heroes, no discipline. In battle, they are prepared to kill.. but they do not understand, they should be prepared to die as well."_

And all of a sudden, something snapped within him. He stopped crying, jolting away from her ashes, and let loose a horrific shout, "YOU SHUT UP!" Kaio hopped up, and zoomed through midair towards Shou, anger and hatred in his eyes. But it wasn't TKO.

The goat flung the bag outside of the temple, ready to catch the boy's fists. At the last minute, he switched and kicked the guy instead, right in the groin. There wasn't anything right with this. That savage look on his usually bright face shouldn't be there. The thoughts currently racing in his head shouldn't either. The kick hit in spot-on, leaving Shou without air. This came as a surprise for him. No physical attacks could touch him! unless...

He tried to collect his thoughts, but all he could really do was recoil in pain. Now was Kaio's chance. He took this opportunity to punch him repeatedly with glowing fists at a rapid pace, said glow taking on sharp, tangible edges. And Shou couldn't stop him either.

And then a thought came to the kid. If Shou could become smoke and arm his chains with a fire element… he smirked, glancing down at the water before taking the helpless being, spinning him so his head was aimed at the floor, and began divebombing towards the water. "An eye for an eye!"

The mutant goat yelled in desperation, and upon impact his head turned into a black mush. But it was mostly because of the water. Kaio hopped off Shou, breathing heavily. His eyes were wild as he watched the guy. His body twitched a bit, but it was post-mortem spasms. There was no way he'd survived that.

And then the boy sighed, rage melting away into a sort of depression. He stalked back over to Pawn's ashes and knelt, clenching and unclenching his fists. The words Shou said replayed themselves, over and over.

_That's the problem with heroes, no discipline. In battle, they are prepared to kill… but they do not understand, they should be prepared to die as well…_

And he'd killed someone too. If this is what it took to be a hero, he didn't want any part of it. Not anymore. And so, he grabbed his headband and untied it, still staring at the ashes of his friend. As Kaio stared at the ashes, he realized one particular pile shone oddly, like a bunch of odd, small, glimmering particles were mixed in with the black carbon powder.

The long-haired boy blinked, a little confused. But he procured two clear bottles, uncapped them and proceeded to scoop the ashes into them, being sure to separate the glimmer from the black. As he separated them, he noticed what they were. A very minute, but still beautiful amount of diamonds. The boy's eyes barely sparkled, but he started crying again, silently this time, hugging the jars to his chest. Was this.. was this what she meant when she said she'd be a star burning brighter than the rest?

With that thought, he capped them both and tied his headband around the jar that shimmered. He looked up at the tree. Dendy would know what to do, wouldn't she? so he sighed and got up, shoving the jars into his vest pockets gently, and then he slowly exited the sanctuary, finding the large bag of glorbs. It hardly crossed his mind, as he picked it up and carried it back to the room. He was working on autopilot. Next moment later, he was back at the original meeting place, and there stood a box of snacks, boardian snacks. Probably intended to be used for celebration.

Kaio stared at the box. He grabbed it too, death in his eyes, and he began the long walk to Dendy's lab.

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**A/N: **Alright, so time to credit! Pawn and the Boardian society belong to Mobbu, and Shou belongs to Big Nacho Umbra, both on Discord. :3  
I was Kaio, and they were their respective characters. And yeah, I cried hard when we first roleplayed this, and I was tearing up even as I was converting this. Pawn and Kaio had gone through many adventures together, and to have it end like this was horrid.

So I hope you enjoyed, and please review. I miss reviews. I'm literally starving for them. This will also be updated weekly or when I can. Ta ta for now, and I'll hopefully see you in my emails and also tomorrow for _Arcana of Tricks_~


	2. His Fault

**A/N: **So.. I uh have no excuse for missing the quota. xD And I shouldn't be laughing either. Here's Chapter Two!

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**OK KO: Let's See The World Burn  
Chapter Two: His Fault**

Dendy's hidden lab was easily accessible, as she had set up a system to allow Kaio in, just in case she wasn't around for an emergency. This time she was though, giving her hackpack some touch-ups. Kaio had soon arrived, still looking somewhat dead inside, but he had a little hope piercing through that too. He let the scanners accept him and the doors opened. His eyes soon found Dendy, and he walked over to her pitifully, "D..Dendy.."

The kappa looked up from her work, turning to face him. She seemed a little confused when she saw his hair, but the brown in his eyes confirmed it was him. "Kaio? I thought you would be sleeping by this hour. Is something the matter?"

He sighed, and brought out the jars of ashes and diamonds. He hoped that said enough.

"...oh. Oh dear. I… I don't know what you want me to do with that, I never got the chance to learn that much about Boardians…" she frowned, trying to hide a sniffle.

"I.. I was hoping you could use coding to bring her back…" she would also notice the red headband that formerly took residence around Kaio's head wrapped around one of the jars. Dendy briefly pulled up her goggles, to wipe both the lenses and her teary eyes, before pulling them back down.

"I'll try my best, but if it works at this point, it'll be a big coincidence." She slid off her shoes, and started hopping around the lab with her characteristic super-jumps, gathering diverse materials from various shelves. Kaio watched her, with a dull sense of awe. He kept tight hold of the jars, as if letting go would mean they'd disappear…

The ashes were even still a little warm, as if they were pretending to have some life in them. Only pretending though.

Soon, a table was prepared with scavenged mannequin parts, varied rotors, motors and thingamabobs, and meters upon meters of cables. And lastly… a single glorb, floating at the center of the workspace. Almost in a trance, Dendy started both assembling this new body, and coding the parts to correctly move with an owner.

The boy only became more entranced, his heart fluttering with hope. Please work…

Soon, it took shape. Even when being made out of provisional scrap, it resembled Pawn, at least in proportions. The glorb was hovering, encased in a glass compartment in this 'doll's' chest. Dendy calibrated her hackpack, and plugged one of its cables to the doll, and the other ends, she handed to Kaio. "If it isn't much of a bother, Kaio, I need you to take these into contact with the… remains. To make sure this can even be attempted, we need every bit of Pawn connected."

Kaio's eyes sparkled sadly, and he, hesitantly, set down the jars, uncapped them, and then took the ends of the cables and stuck them into the jars, trembling. Should he be this hopeful? what if this doesn't work? he began tearing up. Dendy brought up code blocks by the handful, rearranging them and slightly correcting their commands…

And the program.. Took the vague silhouette of a scale representation of Gar's Bodega. If this was intentional or out of nostalgia, she might not explain. Taking a deep breath, the kappa pressed down the green 'GO" button, as the code started running down.

The boy watched, not looking away one time. Would it work? is it working? he didn't know. All he could do was wait and see.

There was a long pause after the GO button was pressed. The limbs of the doll soon began to twitch, particularly at the hands. Hope was shining through… until those twitches turned to spasms, and the limbs that experienced them simply loosened and dropped off the doll, hanging on by whatever bits of wire were connected.

This only raised more questions. Could this be considered a success? Dendy sighed, trying to see what went wrong with her hardware. But nothing was wrong with the hardware, only that the ashes weren't putting out any energy. If she had to guess, the twitches were most likely from the leftover heat.

The boy realized this, and looked down at the jars, closing his eyes. "It.. didn't work…"

"It wasn't for lack of effort, Kaio," she turned to hug her friend. "These things happen sometimes. And… sometimes nothing can be done." She tried her best not to cry.

Kaio was so out of it he barely hugged back. He could only stare once he opened his despondent eyes again. "..yeah.."

She pat Kaio's hair, before letting go. "Y-you should go home. Get over this day."

"I honestly don't know if I can.." the little guy stared down at the jars. "Do you still need her? if not, I'll take her home with me." He knew she was gone, but referring to her ashes as "she" and "her" made him feel a bit better.

"I…" she looked down, hating to admit what she was about to say. "I'd like to keep trying. I have no explanation as to why that didn't work."

Kaio tried his best not to break down then and there. He appreciated it though. He slicked his long, messy hair back, not that it helped - it was more a distraction - and he nodded, "Yeah, okay.."

As if on cue, Kaio got a phone call, and the boy jolted, eyes wide, before he rummaged through his pocket for his phone, and immediately picked up once he stopped trembling so much, not even looking at the caller ID. "H..hello?"

"Peanut!" the cheery voice of his mother sounded from the phone. "How's the stakeout goin'? is that wooden lady taking care of you okay?"

Dendy sighed and walked away to the doll, making adjustments. The small smile that had managed to crawl onto his face upon first hearing his mom's voice shattered and he frowned, whispering softly, sadly, "She's gone…"

"Gone…? Peanut, what do you mean?" concern reached her voice as she heard his new sad tone.

There was a deep breath before… "she's _**GONE!**_" he ended up yelling out of anguish, breaking into a sob afterwards. Dendy nearly jolted out of shock. Kaio didn't want to say she was dead. It just seemed so permanent to him. But, overall, that was all he _could_ say.

Silence from the other end, and he couldn't tell if it was shock or even more concern. Eventually, she replied, "Kaio… please, come home. I'll make you your favorite!" and smiled on the other end, trying to cheer her baby up in any way possible.

Except, there wasn't going to _be_ a possible. Unless Pawnee was revived, his heroic soul was as good as dead. He kept crying, but he managed to calm himself down, wiping his eyes with one hand. "Okay… can you.. come get me…?"

He started to walk away, leaving the jars and his precious headband behind, and offering a weak wave to his other friend.

"Sure, honey, I'll be right there." With that, she hung up and drove over to the lab, as fast as she could. The boy was already outside, sitting by the curb, by the time she got there, head hung so low his unbound hair covered his face. Carol opened the door opposite to her to speak out to her child, "Peanut, I'm here."

Kaio lifted his head and looked up, having heard her voice, and pushed his hair back, before he got up and hopped in with no enthusiasm whatsoever. "Hey…"

She closed the door for him, buckled him in, and started driving in silence. She secretly wondered if it was TKO, due to his attitude. He sighed, closing his eyes and hugging himself. No purple there. And he had no dark circles either, though that might change.

"The uh…" she cleared her throat. "The spaghetti's already cookin'. It'll be done by the time we get home."

"Thanks.." Kaio didn't seem cheered up at all, though it was his favorite meal.

"...should I call a funeral service?" she asked quietly.

And that's when he jumped out of his skin pretty much, swiveling his head to look at his mom, "N-no! D..Dendy is going to take care of her just fine… she's looking into it!" and then he smiled, a little too widely for it to be real.

"If you say so…" she sighed, driving onward and eventually stopping the car outside their home.

And then that smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and then he sighed, muttering, "She's got it…"

"You mean.. her remains?" she got out of the car, leaving the door open to talk to Kaio. He deflated even more with that question, and thus didn't respond, staring at the dash. His mom realized that was a horrible question to ask, and took a deep breath. "Peanut… you gotta come inside…"

The boy didn't move for a while, but he soon unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the car, walking to the door with a depressed glare at his feet. This was his fault. Carol opened the door before him, and immediately got to dishing out the already cooked spaghetti for her boy. Not even the scent cheered him up, as he kicked the door closed and sat at the table. He muttered under his breath, "She'll be back… Dendy… Dendy will make sure of it…"

Carol stayed silent, quietly setting the plate in front of him, not even looking at her son. It was too much to see him in that state. Kaio picked up the fork and poked at the meal for a bit, before he started to eat. A very small smile appeared on his face just then, but it was weird. It was genuine on one hand, but on the other it also didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I-Is it good?: she smiled, finally looking at him.

"It always is," the boy glanced at her, still eating at a slow pace, most likely to savor it. Not only did he have the weight of Pawn dying on his shoulders, but he also couldn't forget that he killed someone because of it. And that his corpse was probably still at the Sanctuary. This thought made Kaio almost choke, his eyes widening.

"A-are you okay, peanut?" she noticed his sudden shock, putting a hand to his shoulder.

"I.. I gotta do something real quick," was all he said before he hopped off the chair and started for the door. "Hold the spaghetti for me!" and then he was gone, heading for the Sanctuary.

"K-Kaio, wai-" she was cut off as he exited, and then she sighed and went to do as he asked.

He kept running, driven by adrenaline and a purpose. The little guy couldn't have the villain sully the beauty, and he also didn't want to be found out as a murderer. He was only a kid after all. A changing kid.

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**A/N: **And there it is! I hope you enjoy it! I was Kaio, and Mobs was Carol, and Nacho was Dendy. Please review~ :3


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